Patients, and particularly non-ambulatory patients, in healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, may need to be transferred from one location to another. For example, patients may be transferred between at least one of a hospital bed, a gurney or stretcher, a surgical table in an operating room, cardiac catheterization lab, a diagnostic table (e.g., a table used during CT, MRI and/or other diagnostic evaluations), etc., and combinations thereof. For example, a patient may need to be moved from a hospital bed that must remain in a patient's room, to a gurney and then from the gurney to a treatment table, such as a surgical table. Following treatment, the reverse patient handling sequence may need to occur. Many of such patient transfers occur between surfaces at or near the same level making it a horizontal or near horizontal transfer.
In some patient transfer situations, sliding a patient along a supporting surface is minimized to avoid skin damage particularly in the elderly or patients with fragile skin as well as to avoid causing patient pain or discomfort, such as when the patient has unhealed surgical incisions. However, lifting of the patient may also need to be minimized both for patient comfort and for worker safety. In some cases, a combination of sliding and lifting may be employed, and/or multiple healthcare personnel may need to be involved in the transfer.
In addition, controlling patient temperature can be a critical element to good care. For example, patient warming devices can be used to actively warm patients or portions of patients (e.g., selectively warm) during a variety of medical procedures, such as surgeries. In such situations, the entire patient can be warmed or a portion of the patient can be warmed to avoid a potentially detrimental drop in core body temperature during a medical procedure, such as an extended surgery. In other situations, it may be beneficial to cool the patient, for example, during cardiac surgery or immediately after cardiac arrest.